Water-heater.



J. W. GAMBLE.

7 WATER HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 29, 1910.

991,969. Patented May 9, 1911.

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WITNEISSES IN VE N TOR J. W. GAMBLE.

WATER HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED 81:1 1.. 29, 1910.

Patented May 9, 1911.

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UNITED STATES PATENT @FFIGE.

JOSEPH W. GAMBLE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO JOSEPH S.LOVERING WI-IARTON, WILLIAM S. I-IALLOWELL, AND JOHN C. JONES, ALL OFPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A FIRM.

W ATERI-IEATER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH 1V. GAMBLE, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, rcsiding in the city and county of Philadelphia, in the Stateof Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inWVater-I-Ieaters, of which the following is a true and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, whichform a part thereof.

My present invention relates to water heaters, and particularly to waterheaters of the kind commonly known as open feed water heaters, used forheating water for boiler feed purposes, and the like. In this type ofheater a heating chamber is provided into which the water to be heatedand the steam for heating it are both admitted, suitable overflowconnections being provided to insure the presence at all times of asteam space in the upper portion of the chamber, the water to be heatedbeing made to pass through the steam space of the chamber in film likeand broken streams by water spreading devices, usually in the form knownas trays, arranged above the water level in the heating chamber, andover which the Water flows in film like streams, and from the dischargeedges of which the water falls in broken streams.

The object of my invention is to provide a tray and water supplyconnection arrangement in a heater of the kind specified which willresult in an increased capacity of the heater without a correspondingincrease in the size and cost of construction of the heater as a whole.This I accomplish by locating the trays, or more accurately, groups oftrays which I call tray units at different levels and so arranging themthat the falling streams of Water discharged from the upper trays ortray units do not fall onto the lower units, and by the provisions whichI make for distributing the water to be heated with the desireduniformity, between the various trays or tray units.

The various features of novelty which characterize my invention arepointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming apart of these specifications, but for a better understanding of theinvention, however, and the advantages possessed by it, reference may behad to the accompa- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. September 29, 1910.

Patented May 9, 1911.

Serial No. 584,394.

nying drawings and descriptive matter, in which I have illustrated anddescribed one of the forms in which the invention may be embodied- Ofthe drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of an open feed heater,Fig. 2 is a plan and Fig. 3 is an elevation taken at right angles toFig. 1.

In the drawings, A represents the tank or body of the heater.

B is the steam supply pipe connected to the tank A through its usual oilseparator C.

D, D and D represent the overflow waste connections by which the waterin the tank is prevented from rising above the desired level, and Erepresents the service discharge connection through which the heatedwater is conveyed away from the heater.

F represents the main cold water supply pipe, and F a valve thereincontrolled automatically by the float G in the float box Gr, thearrangement of the float and valve being such that the valve isautomatically closed when the water level in the tank rises to apredetermined level and is opened when the water falls below this level.

The cold water supply pipe F discharges into a dividing box orreceptacle K from which it flows through connections hereinafterdescribed, to the trays I, arranged in groups, which I call tray units.As shown there are five trays I, arranged one above another in each trayunit, each tray engaging and being supported by a pair of parallel traysupports 1. The adjacent trays in each unit are oppositely inclined tothe horizontal and the water flowing over each tray of the unit, exceptthe lowermost one, falls from the lower edge of the tray onto the traybeneath at the upper edge of the latter. As shown, the tray units, arearranged in pairs, with the upper edges of the upper trays of each pairof units adjacent and parallel, and beneath the cold water distributionboxes J.

In so far as above described, the heater with the adjuncts mentioned, isidentical with heaters which have long been known and in common use, andon this account I have not thought it necessary to more specificallydescribe the details of construction of the parts referred to.

M represent vent connections for escape of tray units.

air and excess uncondensed vapor from the tank, and N represents filtermaterial in the bottom of the tank.

The apparatus disclosed differs, however, from that before known in thearrangement of the various tray units and in the arrangement of theconnections between the external distribution box K and the variousinternal distribution boxes J. Heretofore it has always been thepractice, so far as 1 am aware, to arrange the similar tray units of aheater of this character at the same level, but in constructing a heaterin accordance with the present invention, 1 locate the tray units atdifferent levels and so construct and arrange the tray units that thefalling streams discharged from the upper tray units do not fall on thelower units.

In the construction shown in the drawings, the tray units are located attwo levels, with each pair of tray units in the upper tier directlyabove a pair of units in the lower tier, but in the particularconstruction shown, the trays in the upper units are wider than thetrays in the lower units, so that the discharge corners of each grouppair of tray units at the upper level are placed farther apart than, andare laterally displaced from the corresponding dis charge corners of thetray units at the lower level. With this arrangement the falling streamsof water discharged from the upper and lower tray units are laterallydisplaced from one another, and the streams from the upper tray units donot fall on to the lower tray units.

One characteristic of the present invention is the provision of coldwater supply connections to the tray units located at different levels,which will insure a proper distribution of the water to be heated to thevarious tray units. In the particular construction shown in thedrawings, the upper tray units are supplied with water by means of apipe L, which leads from the dividing tank or box K to a horizontal pipeL connected at its ends to two transverse pipes L discharging at theirends into ends of the boxes J, located above the upper units. As

shown, there is one box J for each group pair of upper tray units, andeach box J is supplied with water at one end from one, and at the otherend from the other of the transverse pipes L The lower tray units aresupplied with water by a pipe L leading from the dividing box K to thepipe L*, which runs around three sides of the tank A, and is connectedat opposite sides of the tank by short pipes L to the ends of the boxesJ, located one above each pair of lower By arranging the tray units at adifferent level, in accordance with the present invention, I am enabledto very greatly increase the capacity of the heater, particularly wherethe amount of water to be heated is relatively large, without otherchange in the heater proper except a slight increase in the volume ofthe steam space, and without increasing the number of adjuncts to theheater, or indeed, with but little if any increase in the size of theseadjuncts. The construction disclosed is, moreover, simple, effective andreliable, and the use of the invention involves but a slight departurefrom established practice in construction of heaters of the type towhich the invention pertains. Aside from the tank body, which ordinarilyshould be slightly greater, when my invention is employed thanheretofore, and the pipe connections from the dividing box to theinternal overflow supply box of the heater, a heater may be constructedin accordance with my invention from the stock parts constructed andassembled for use on heaters as heretofore constructed.

While in accordance with the provisions of the statutes, 1 have hereindescribed and illustrated the best form of my invention now known to me,it will readily be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes maybe made in the form of the disclosure without departing from the spiritof my invention, and I do not wish the claims hereinafter made, to belimited to the particular form of apparatus disclosed, more than is madenecessary by the prior state of the art. Having now described myinvention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is:

1. In a water heater of the kind specified the combination with theheating tank and the steam supply and water discharge con nectionstherefor, of two tray units located in said tank at different levels,and so arranged that the stream of water discharged from the upper trayunit falls at the side of the lower unit, and separate cold water supplyconnections for said tray units. 7

2. In a water heater of the kind specified the combination with theheating tank and the steam supply and water discharge connectionstherefor, of two tray units located in said tank at diiterent levels,one overlying the other, but arranged so that the falling streams ofwater discharged from the upper tray unit-s falls at the side of thelower tray unit, and separate cold water supply connections for saidtray units.

3. In a water heater of the kind specified the combination with theheating tank and the steam supply, and water discharge connectionstherefor, of water spreading tray units at diflerent levels withseparate cold water supply connections 'for the units at the differentlevels, the tray units at the different levels being so relativelyarranged that the falling streams of water discharged from the uppertray'units at each level do not fall on the lower tray units.

4:. In a Water heater of the kind specified the combination with theheating tank and the steam supply and water discharge connectionstherefor, of water spreading tray units located in the tank at differentlevels and arranged in pairs, extending side by side and discharging attheir opposite lower edges, each pair of tray units at the upper levelbeing centrally placed above a grouped pair of tray units at the lowerlevel, and the discharge edges of each grouped pair of tray units in theupper level being separated by a distance greater than the distancebetween the discharge edges of the group pair of tray units beneath,whereby the streams of Water discharged from a grouped pair of uppertray units fall at the opposite sides of the underneath grouped pair oftray units, and a separate cold Water supply connection for each groupedpair of tray units.

5. In a water heater of the kind specified the combination with theheating tank and the steam supply and water discharge connectionstherefor, of water spreading tray units located in the tank at diiferentlevels, which discharge at their lower edges, and are arranged so thatthe Water discharged from the unit or units at their upper level fallsat the side of each unit at a lower level, and separate cold watersupply connections for the tray units at different levels, the coldwater supply connections for the unit or units at the lower levelcomprising pipe connections passing through the tank wall at oppositeends of the tray unit or units at that level.

JOSEPH W. GAMBLE.

In the presence of ROBERT G. CLIFTON, W. A'rwoon MEHARG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

